‘Today’ Show Host Hoda Kotb and Fiance Joel Schiffman Break up After 8 Years Together

Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman have called off their engagement after eight years together, the TODAY show host revealed Monday on the air. Kotb revealed that she and Schiffman, with whom she shares daughters Haley, 4, and Hope, 2, had decided they were better friends and co-parents than they were romantic partners as she opened up about the end of their relationship. 

“Joel and I have had a lot of prayerful and meaningful conversations over the holidays and we decided that we are better as friends and parents than we are as an engaged couple, so we decided we are going to start this new year on our new path as loving parents to our adorably delightful children and as friends,” she shared. “It’s not like something happened. They say sometimes relationships are meant to be there for a reason, a season or a lifetime, this was for a season.”

The TV personality said it felt “weird and awkward” to make this announcement, although fans have been asking why she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring lately. Kotb and Schiffman first went public with their relationship in 2015 after two years of dating, and the financier popped the question to his longtime girlfriend in November 2019. The pair became parents when they adopted daughters Haley and Hope in February 2017 and April 2019, respectively.

The former couple originally had planned to tie the knot in November 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their plans were put on hold. In July 2021, Kotb explained that planning for her dream destination wedding was put on hold when asked by co-host Jenna Bush Hager. “We’re just trying to make sure that everyone can travel. That’s really what we want to do,” Kotb said at the time. “We want to do it in a place that we love deep in our soul that means a lot to us, and we want our closest to come.” She added, “But Joel kept saying, ‘Why are we waiting? Let’s just go already.’”